IRS’s People First Initiative, amending partnership returns, and procedures to fax NOL carryback forms

Examinations

The IRS’s People First Initiative, currently scheduled to run through July 15, 2020, includes changes to the IRS’s tax return examination conduct:

• The IRS will generally not initiate new examinations unless deemed necessary to protect the government’s interest to preserve the applicable statute of limitations.
• Current examinations will continue remotely where possible. Field examinations appear more likely to continue than correspondence examinations.

The IRS has indicated that it will continue to work refund claims. Taxpayers unable to contact the IRS on the status of an open refund claim and facing economic hardship may consider contacting their Local Taxpayer Advocate for assistance.

The IRS’s temporary procedures to fax carryback forms provide an alternative to paper filing Forms 1139 and 1045 (quick refund claims). While quick refund claims may result in clients receiving refund checks more quickly, clients should be cognizant of how quick refund claims impact the assessment statute of limitations (SOL):

• For quick refund claims, the SOL for the carryback year remains open for items related and unrelated to the carryback as long as the SOL is open for the loss year.
• If a refund claim is filed using Forms 1120-X or 1040-X, the SOL for the carryback year remains open only for items related to the carryback. However, the IRS can deny a refund claim for a carryback year based upon an item unrelated to the carryback. 
• For both quick refund claims and Forms 1120-X and 1040-X, the total amount that can be assessed is limited to the amount of tax refunded.

Rev. Proc. 2020-23 provides some welcome relief for partnerships subject to the centralized partnership audit regime (CPAR). In short, CPAR partnerships can file Forms 1065-X instead of an administrative adjustment request through Sept. 30, 2020. CPAR partnerships that are currently under IRS examination should know the following: